PS3 Backlog-Burning

The PlayStation 3 is my favourite console. There, I said it. 

It arrived at the perfect time, when my long-held interest in games was kicking up a gear. I had started writing about them, and hanging out with like-minded people. I had both the time and the disposable income to enjoy that moment to the fullest - I had every major console of that generation, and I made the most of them. But most importantly, there was a plentiful supply of games that I loved, games that I still return to now.

Sure, the PS3 was flawed, and Sony spent the first half of that gen shooting itself in the foot over and over, but the body of work is undeniable. If you need a reminder, see my Best of the Seventh Gen series or my one sentence write-ups for 180 PS3 games.

Nostalgia has already well and truly kicked in for the seventh generation, but the used-game market has yet to fully catch on. PS3 is junk-retro, not proper retro, and this is reflected in the basement prices you can pick up most games for today. PS3, 360 and Wii titles make up the bulk of most in-store junk sections, and between those and Mercari I have been indulging myself over the last couple of years. I've amassed a small collection of titles, all in the ¥200-500 range, all of which I missed the first time around. Some of them I genuinely want to play, others were motivated by curiousity or misplaced nostalgia.

I recently decided to put a dent in that backlog. I'd finished and reviewed Triangle Strategy and gone through the outstanding Immortality, and had some time before A Plague Tale: Requiem and then the arrival of the Tactics Ogre remaster. So I brought my PS3 back into the living room, and placed it under the big TV, where it belongs. To make space, I had to unplug the PS5 - a damning indictment of the current gen, and in particular the PS5.

In the last week, I've already clocked Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. It's a five-hour - truly a blessing - grimey-as-all-fuck third person shooter. The grainy visuals, unstable and incredibly violent leads, and cesspit setting make it truly memorable. Yes, the gameplay isn't up to much - constant waves of very similar enemies - but it still has more style than most modern shooters. It is a tad problematic in places, what with its unrelenting violence and awful depiction of Shanghai and its populace, but otherwise I loved it.

I've since moved to Zone of the Enders HD having learnt that it is also a five-hour game - yet another blessing. It's fairly simplistic, further compounded by my decision to play on easy, but I'm enjoying it and I'm content to be catching up with something I missed not once (PS2) but twice (PS3 HD). Once that's all done, I figure I'll make time for one more narrative-driven playthrough. Most likely that game will either be Lost Planet 3 or El Shaddai. I have a soft spot for Lost Planet and I'm sure that the third and final entry in the series will be perfectly fine, if not thoroughly enjoyable. El Shaddai is more of a unique proposition and therefore my enjoyment is far less certain. Maybe I'll get to them both before returning to my modern consoles?

Complete playthroughs aside, I've already begun chipping away at less-narrative focussed and more arcade-like games. My daughter and I have already been rinsing Street Fighter X Tekken, and have also dipped into Marvel vs. Capcom 3 a few times, though it does seem inferior to its Dreamcast predecessors. NBA Street Homecourt is a delight for an NBA-head like myself, and given how much I enjoyed the first, and more recently the second games in the series, I've no idea why I originally missed this one. I also tried SSX and was overjoyed to discover that the MC is DJ Atomica, our companion in Burnout Paradise! However, I lost much of my enthusiasm once I realized I can play a better version on Game Pass, which I have of course since downloaded and will be playing soon.

Sometimes it's hard to keep track of what we do or don't have access to in modern gaming.

I'm certain I'll make time for other games in my PS3 stash, at a later date. I'm equally certain that some of them will remain untouched for as long as I own them, as my motivation for buying them was a little off. Haze I bought due to a sick curiousity for the game that essentially killed off my beloved Free Radical, the studio behind TimeSplitters. Tokyo Game Show nostalgia led to purchases of Quantum Theory, NeverDead and End of Eternity, all of which I demoed and previewed at that show in the late 2000s - early 2010s. I rather fancy playing Lightning Returns, but I was disappointed to discover there's no English support. If I'm going to put fifty hours into something, I'd prefer it to be in my native language. I'll check the next sale on the Xbox store.

I'm not quite sure why, but games of the 7th Gen resonated with me far more than those of subsequent generations. Despite this connection, I will soon have to pack away my PS3. Thanks to the massive size of the PS5 there simply isn't enough room under the TV for two PlayStations. However, I know I'll keep going back to it, here and there, for many years to come.